Ferris State Women's Volleyball Unveils 2010 Schedule

The 2010 Ferris State University women's volleyball team has
high expectations for the upcoming season and aspirations of
exceeding its level of success as the Bulldogs face a 26 regular-season match
schedule hoping to earn a second straight NCAA Division II
Tournament berth. The announcement was made by 15th-year head
coach Tia
Brandel-Wilhelm.

Ferris State, which made the program's 15th all-time NCAA
Tournament appearance last season, will square off against at least
eight 2009 post-season national tourney participants. One of
the Bulldogs' opponents, Minnesota State ranked 17th nationally in
the final 2009 American Volleyball Coaches Association (AVCA)
Division II Coaches Top 25 Poll while fellow Great Lakes
Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (GLIAC) South Division foe
Hillsdale is also on the the docket.

The GLIAC not only welcomes two new members in Lake
Erie (Ohio) and Ohio Dominican this fall, but will also feature a
different scheduling format in which teams will have a day off
between conference matches on certain weekends. The
Bulldogs will continue to play a North Division twice
during the regular season, both home and away, while facing a
South Division opponent once, either at home or on the
road.

"This is the first year of the new GLIAC schedule," stated
Brandel-Wilhelm, who ranks second among Ferris State's all-time
winningest women's volleyball coaches. "The new
schedule gives us more diversity in match dates and times than
in previous years. We are eager to move into this
schedule as it will allow us to keep our players fresher throughout
the season while still giving proper focus to each
opponent."

The Bulldogs start their 2010 campaign and the program's 38th
season of varsity competition on Sept. 3-4 by hosting the
annual Ferris State Invitational on three courts between the
Ewigleben Sports Arena and Jim Wink Arena, both on the FSU
campus. Ferris is slated to play a pair of
non-conference matches each day with Lock Haven (Pa.) and Glenville
State (W.Va.) providing the opposition on day one while Minnesota
State along with former GLIAC member Mercyhurst (Pa.)
will go up against the Bulldogs in final-day action. The
eight-team tournament field also includes Hillsdale, Michigan Tech,
and St. Cloud (Minn.) State.

"We are truly looking forward to competing in our home
tournament during Labor Day weekend," said Brandel-Wilhelm.
"This is an exciting weekend in the Big Rapids community with the
Riverdays Festival. We look forward to being at home to
celebrate with our community and provide some exciting matches
for our community to enjoy along with the festival
activities."

The 19-match conference schedule gets underway on Sept. 10 and
12 with home matches versus Northern Michigan and Michigan Tech,
respectively. The Bulldogs then hit the road for six contests
to close out the month of September while October will feature five
of its eight league outings on the home floor.

"The conference race will be a rough and tumble
one this season with many great volleyball
teams," Brandel-Wilhelm stated. "We expect to be in the
heat of this intense competition and there will be a number of
incredible matches for our fans to
enjoy!"

For the third consecutive season, Ferris State will be competing
in the Asics GLVC (Great Lakes Valley Conference)/GLIAC Crossover
Tournament (Oct. 15-16) at Aurora, Ill., with the GLVC serving as
the tournament host. The Bulldogs are scheduled to play a
total of three matches against GLVC competition.

Ferris State will close out the regular season with a five-match
conference homestand, beginning Oct. 30 versus Tiffin and
concluding on Nov. 5 with Lake Superior State providing the
opposition.

During the 2010 regular season, a number of exciting and
different promotions are planned for the Bulldogs' home
matches.

The 2010 GLIAC Tournament begins Nov. 11 with quarterfinal-round
play at campus sites. The semifinals and championship match
will be held Nov. 13 and 14, respectively at the site of the
highest remaining seed.

Ferris State concluded the 2010 season at 19-12 overall which
represented the program's 12th consecutive winning season and the
29th straight time of reaching the double-digit victories
total plateau. The Bulldogs also made their 12th GLIAC
Tournament appearance in a row last fall.